By Dave Hughes, DCRTV.com

Joe Angel, the radio voice for the Orioles for the past six seasons, is returning in 2010. Also, Fred Manfra is expected to be back as Angel's partner.

"This is where I want to be," Angel told the Baltimore Sun. “I’ve left Baltimore twice and come back twice, so this obviously is where I want to be. I'm ready to go."

The Orioles are heard in Baltimore on WJZ-FM, 105.7 The Fan and in Washington, D.C., on ESPN 980 WTEM.

Over on MASN, former Orioles pitcher Mike Flanagan reportedly will serve as a game analyst, replacing Buck Martinez who left MASN to become part of the Toronto Blue Jays TV team.

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Robert Philips, senior vice president of operations for Baltimore sports talker 105.7 The Fan, told PressBox he’s still searching for a replacement for Anita Marks on WJZ-FM’s afternoon show with Scott Garceau.

So far, a number of potential co-host candidates have sat in with Garceau, including MASN’s Amber Theoharis and Jennifer Royle from NYC’s YES sports network. But Philips said he’s not in a big hurry to find a new radio partner for Garceau.

Marks left WJZ-FM in January when the station’s owner, CBS and she could not agree on a new contract. Marks maintained she wanted to do more side projects, including television.

“Anita needed more flexibility,” Philips said. “We need someone who can do a full Monday through Friday schedule.”

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Longtime Baltimore Orioles play-by-play man Jon Miller is the winner of the Ford C. Frick Award, which is given for lifetime achievement in broadcasting and also admits Miller to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Miller moved on to the San Francisco Giants after the Orioles moved too slowly to renew his contract in the 1990s. There has always been speculation that owner Peter Angelos didn't want him back because he was “too honest” about the team, according to the Sun.

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William "Bill" K. Free, a retired Baltimore Sun sportswriter and sports car enthusiast, died Feb. 5 of a perforated bowel. He was 66.

According to the Sun, Mr. Free served in the Army as a sportswriter and then went to work as a newspaper reporter for the Gettysburg Times, Waynesboro Record and Harrisburg Patriot-News before beginning his 39-year career with the Sun's sports department in 1969.

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Baltimore Sun media columnist David Zurawik reported Baltimore viewers tuned in to the Winter Olympics at levels above the national average through the first two nights of the Vancouver games.

During the opening ceremony, Baltimore scored a 20.9 rating and 32 share -- meaning one of every five TV homes in the Baltimore market tuned to the games, with one of three sets in use in the market tuned to Baltimore NBC affiliate Channel 11/WBAL. Baltimore's rating and share was the 13th highest nationally.

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Verizon's FIOS is finally giving its TV subscribers in "outlying areas" access to Comcast SportsNet Plus, the overflow channel that runs the Capitals when the Wizards are on CSN's main channel, and vice versa. CSN+ games will continue to air on the FIOS1 channel in the immediate metro area and on Channel 334 in the rest of the region.

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Tony Kornheiser received a two-week suspension as host of ESPN's "Pardon The Interruption" for comments made on his radio show last week about Hannah Storm's wardrobe. Kornheiser apologized to Storm after making the remarks.

Kornheiser said Storm was wearing "a horrifying, horrifying outfit" and a "very, very tight shirt ... She looks like she has sausage casing wrapping around her upper body," he added. "I know she's very good, and I'm not supposed to be critical of ESPN people, so I won't ... but Hannah Storm ... come on now! Stop! What are you doing? ... She's what I would call a Holden Caulfield fantasy at this point."

The former Washington Post columnist opened his show on DC’s ESPN 980 radio the next day by saying, "I apologize, unequivocally ... I'm a sarcastic, subversive guy. ... I'm a troll, look at me. I have no right to insult what anybody looks like or what anybody wears. That, I think, should go without saying."

The suspension will not affect Kornheiser’s ESPN 980 morning show because the station, WTEM, is owned by Redskins owner Dan Snyder, not ESPN.

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WTOP radio has signed a "multi-year broadcasting partnership" with NFL Hall of Famer and Redskins great John Riggins.

"The John Riggins Show" will return to the air via WTOP's digital HD Radio HD3 channel via 103.5 FM from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays starting in March.

Riggins did an afternoon show for Snyder's now-defunct Triple X ESPN Radio, but that ended in mid-2008 when Snyder bought DC sports talker WTEM and shut down Triple X.

There are rumors MASN may air Riggins’ show during afternoons. Currently, MASN relays Scott Garceau’s WJZ-FM show.

Posted February 24, 2010